Thomas Bérard

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Grandmaster coat of arms of Thomas Bérard

Thomas Bérard (also Béraud or Bérault ; † March 25, 1273 ) was the twentieth Grand Master of the Knights Templar from 1256 until his death .

It is unclear whether he came from Italy or England .

After the death of Grand Master Renaud de Vichiers on January 20, 1256, Thomas Bérard was elected Grand Master of the Templar Order.

Bérard ended the war of Saint-Sabas (1256–1258) and tried to come to a peaceful understanding with the order of the Hospitallers . The political situation around the crusader states in Syria and Palestine was tense in the following period: the Mongols had conquered Baghdad in 1258 , the Egyptian Mamluk Sultan Baibars (1260-1277) attacked the “Frankish” remaining possessions after defending against Mongol attacks in Syria and was able to do so Example Caesarea , Haifa , Ramla (1265/66), Jaffaand snatch Antioch (1268) and Montfort (1271) from the crusaders. The Templars were able to repel the siege of their Château Pèlerin in 1265, but the Templar castles Safed (1266), Beaufort (1268) and Chastel Blanc (1271) fell to the Muslims. An armistice of April 21, 1272 for ten years, ten months, ten days and ten hours ended the wars, which were extremely costly for the Templars.

Even if the Templars - together with the other crusaders - were unable to counter the Mamluk attacks, Bérard at least tried to reform his order during his reign. So around 1260 he adopted the statutes of the Hospitallers in the Templars' penal regulations. He strove for a stricter discipline within the order and to put an end to rivalries with the other orders of knights.

Bérard died on March 25, 1273, and was succeeded by the Grand Master Guillaume de Beaujeu .

literature

  • Alain Demurger: The last Templar. The life and death of the Grand Master Jacques de Molay . Munich 2004, pp. 58-64

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marie Luise Bulst-Thiele : Sacrae domus militiae templi hierosolymitani magistri , Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, coll. Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen. Philological-historical class, Göttingen 1974, ( ISBN 3-525-82353-3 ), pp. 232-233
predecessor Office successor
Renaud de Vichiers Grand Master of the Knights Templar
1256–1273 		Guillaume de Beaujeu
personal data
SURNAME Bérard, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Béraud, Thomas; Bérault, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Grand Master of the Templar Order (1256–1273)
DATE OF BIRTH 13th Century
DATE OF DEATH March 25, 1273